I'M UAU

Design

I'M UAU

About how we set about fixing a toilet
after filling the yard with coal

text: Justin BARONCEA

Ioana Trușcă - TRSC is from Târgu Jiu. This is where it all started. From a garage where we talked about rabbits, coal and sculpture.
A few months later, we started a workshop on cutting and crumbling lignite. In parallel, we organized a ceramics workshop in the hallway of the architecture school. Nothing fancy, just making ceramic tiles with approximate sizes and accidentally right angles, somewhere around 16 x 16 cm.

caption><img src= 89°. Coal and ceramics

CARBFORM and ^CERAMFORM1. G4 workshop full of red and black dust. After the first day, Ginara and Nanis showed up, consumers of clay and producers of unique earthenware. The exam session didn't matter. One ceramic tile after another. We didn't count workshop participants, but we know we filled 3 kilns with tiles. We still have tiles left from the first workshop, this after having "renovated" three toilets in the meantime.
While the ceramic tiles were firing in the kiln at UNArte, the charcoal hit the streets at Street Delivery. First step out of architecture school. Coal on Arthur Verona.
We took to the streets at Street Delivery 2016 with coal and paper; in ²⁰¹⁷² we took to the streets with recycled tech toys and ceramics, TRANSFORM_SD. Pieces of printers and fax machines on Arthur Verona, "faience" tiles on Academy. In 2017 we started Street Delivery ^early3. During a workshop I installed a bench designed together with Ginara and Alex. BEHIND THE LINES, a project from the ^FLADER_ING4 program, brought with it the first outdoor constructions: a bench and a trolley. The bench in the portico - at Architecture and the trolley - on Arthur Verona Street. The bench - support for the ceramic tile workshop and the trolley - a stall for toys made of recycled materials. The stall was propelled by Alex and Emi. The bench was assembled together with Nanis, Alex, Trușcă, Ginara, Emi, Andra and Sofia. The pottery workshop was coordinated by Roxana from Mud studio. Surely we forgot someone (we hope we didn't offend anyone).
This happened over the summer. In the fall the ^b_LOC5 project was installed in the same formation: two benches made of wooden beams placed on brick supports. Urban furniture again. The collaboration with Holver was one step closer. And then the idea of continuing to build outside the school appeared on the horizon. In the meantime we finished another project for a sanitary unit - Boiler Broom, on the ground floor, towards Edgar Quinet.
If we build towards Edgar Quinet, why not build on Edgar Quinet? So, street furniture on Edgar Quinet. We gradually remove the cars and put benches. Open the gangway to the city. At least one weekend! At least Street Delivery! Without being asked, Arthur Verona and Edgar Quinet became close. Since 2018, the streets bearing their names become pedestrianized on the same weekend in June.
In conclusion: we are trying to open the architecture school building to the city, to bring people into the inner courtyard, to make a closed building as permeable as possible. Architecture has its courtyard, the University has its courtyard, and both are enclosed, hidden from the city and separated by Edgar Quinet. If the street becomes at least temporarily pedestrianized, perhaps the two buildings will begin a dialog, temporarily or perhaps, who knows, permanently. Someday.
We put the benches, Edgar Quinet lays the asphalt, Street Delivery communicates, people come and discover a place that many don't even know exists. Separate places are put in ONE PLACE.
In other words: if you're going to smash coal in the yard, why not get the cars off the street?

caption><img src= Breaking news

As part of Street Delivery 2018, the University of Architecture and Urbanism "Ion Mincu" (UAUIM) opened up to the city with workshops held in the University's portico, at the intersection of Edgar Quinet and Academiei streets, with activities in the Portico Area (Creative workshops/crafting - Creative recycling, workshop of lighting fixtures made from recycled plastic parts by Ateliere sans Frontiere from disassembled printers and electronics, then recomposed with Ion Macarie, object designer - PLASTIC Stu_FF program - AFF, ALMALUX collaboration; Workshop modeling ceramic objects - CERAMFORM SD_1.8 coordinated by Roxana Bâra - Studio Mud; Workshop for assembling wooden urban furniture - Cărturești collaboration - program FLADER_ING SD1.8 - HOLVER collaboration; Video screenings on topics related to the Street Delivery festival theme: gardens, social design, parks, Bucharest traffic problems - Cărturești collaboration; tree planting in the UAUIM garden) and in the inner courtyard (Urban art workshop by painting murals: on the gang area, facing Edgar Quinet, together with local artist Pandele Pandele Pandele and on the wall facing the glazed space towards the UAUIM lobby, refurbishment of the construction site container, together with University students, Iulia Panait & Alex Voicu -

TER program - collaboration INTERSTING TIMES BUREAU, POLICOLOR; Workshop for assembling urban furniture made of wood and ceramic blocks for the realization of a leisure area & model making for UAUIM students - b_LOC program - collaboration WIENERBERGER, HOLVER).

NOTES

1 CERAMFORM workshops realized in UAUIM from June 27, 2016 to June 11, 2017.
An I'M UAU project. Ceramform is the I'M UAUAU group's series of workshops aimed at working with clay and exploring its possibilities with students and collaborators. During the 3 parts of the workshop, ceramic tiles and washbasins and lighting fixtures were made from ceramic bowls.
CERAMFORM. The students of the University of Architecture and Urbanism "Ion Mincu" were invited to make ceramic tiles with the final aim of finishing the parietal wall as part of the project for the refurbishment of the UAUIM girls' sanitary groups, called GEST. The workshop was carried out in the following stages: modeling in the UAUIM workshops, then sanding, glazing and firing, with the support of UNArte. The 150 resulting tiles were installed in August in the third and fourth floor bathrooms.
CERAMFORM 2.0. UAUIM students were given a different kind of sketch topic: "How would you imagine the sink in the 2nd floor girls' restroom?". Working time: 4 hours. Room: G6. Roxana Bâră, from Studio Mud, also participated, who instructed the students on how to make ceramic objects.
CERAMFORM 3.0. At Street Delivery 2017 we played with ceramics for the third time at the event held on Arthur Verona Street, the activity was expanded with related events on Academy Street in the UAUIM portico. There were three days of turning clay into tiles and ceramic bowls into lamps. And this time we had assistance from Roxana Bâră from Studio Mud.
2. June 9-11, 2017 - TRANSFORM_SD; CERAMFORM 3.0; FLADER_ING; TRB_AFF; Street Delivery 2017.
On Arthur Verona Street, over the two days, UAUIM students organized and led creative recycling workshops. In parallel, the related Academy Street event, hosted in the university's portico, included a series of workshops, including modular urban furniture assembly, ceramic tile modeling, and transforming ceramic bowls into light fixtures. All these were conducted with the help of the AFF stall, I'M UAU product and mobile workbench for the above-mentioned activities.
3. For the theme Street Delivery 2017 - Possible Farms, a new project was started to complement the FF_ARM workshop, whose theme had been the creation of signage elements for the Bio&CO farm; StuFF - TRANSFORM - Street Delivery: a possible farm, a creative recycling workshop where toy farm machinery was made: combines, tractors, plows, trailers, lawnmowers, etc. The workshop invited passers-by to build their own toy by mounting plastic parts recovered from electrical equipment on wooden chassis to be pre-assembled. We close the street for cars and open it for tractors!

4. 2-9 June 2017, FLADER_ING - PRINTRE LINII program: an ensemble of furniture fixtures located in the portico at the entrance of the University of Architecture and Urbanism "Ion Mincu", 250 linear m of wood and 25 m long. 11 modules, 201 rulers, same section: 72 x 86. Not a state bench, a work bench.

The project aimed to activate an unused public space at the UAUIM entrance (the portico) and to strengthen the connection between the street, the open courtyard of the university, the main access and the exhibition hall with visibility to the street. The furniture was designed and assembled by UAUIM students.

5. October-December 2017, b_LOC. A b_LOC . State. In the inner courtyard of UAUIM. The project aimed to redesign the inner courtyard of UAUIM, in front of the ground floor entrance hall: two 6 meter long benches and a truss-like structure. The two benches - the first part of the project - have already been assembled and put in place by UAUIM students.